Disney teams with the FA and sets goal to encourage more girls to play football

Disney has formed a three-year partnership with The Football Association with the goal of encouraging greater participation of girls within the male-dominated sport.

Kicking off with Dream Big, Princess, a UK-wide campaign which aims to boost participation by shattering stereotypes of what it means to be a princess in the modern world by pairing up with the England women’s football team.

This saw celebrity photographer Scarlet Page commissioned to snap team captain Steph Houghton and several other lionesses dispensing advice to young girls in addition to a series of short films in which they talk about the attributes which have propelled them to success on the pitch.

Members of the public are being invited to share their own motivational images of young girls using the hashtag #DreamBigPrincess.

Anna Hill, chief marketing officer, Disney UK and Ireland, said: “At Disney we always want our characters and storytelling to be really relevant, inspire and empower children to be confident and believe in themselves, so we’re excited to be teaming up with The FA and kicking off our partnership with such an exciting campaign with the Lionesses. Disney has a longstanding commitment to healthy living so by encouraging girls to get out and play football, this partnership will help both organisations achieve their goals.”

Mark Bullingham, The FA’s Group Commercial Director, said: “We’re delighted to announce our partnership with Disney as the perfect company to help us double girls football participation by 2020. We both want to get a new generation of girl’s active through football, to have fun whilst learning life skills. Working together with Disney’s unique range of channels, characters and franchises will help us to achieve this.”

The FA launched its own Gameplan for Growth earlier in the year in which it set itself the target of doubling the female fanbase and participation by 2020.